Asteroids

OVERVIEW

An asteroid caused the dinosaurs to go extinct 66 million years ago, and a similar asteroid could hit the Earth again. The level of damage caused by an asteroid depends on its size and speed. Asteroid risk is currently being managed by NASA and other organizations as they map objects on course to approach Earth in the next several decades and develop technology for defending Earth from asteroids. Although good progress is being made in this area, it is an existential threat because of the possibility for an asteroid to go undetected and because of the limitations of current asteroid defence technology.

DANGERS

A large and fast enough asteroid could go undetected, resulting in human extinction